Deep Fake

Message manipulation using bots, algorithms and, now, AI software is making it harder to know what’s real – and threatening democracy itself.

- Gavin Ellis

The Word of the Year for 2019 will be “disinformation”. It is a natural extension of two of 2018’s Words of the Year: “toxic” and “misinformation”. Toxic misinformation has the ingredients that combine to produce disinformation.

Why not simply “fake news”? US President Donald Trump has appropriated that to undermine media he does not like. So journalists and academics have settled on “disinformation” to describe this dangerous form of “alternative facts” that has the potential to undermine civic institutions and democracy itself. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as information intended to mislead. We could add another layer: the identity of the perpetrator is often disguised.

Disinformation is not new. In 32BC, Octavian (later Emperor Augustus) used what was almost certainly a fake will to shaft his rival for leadership in Rome. According to the will, Mark Antony would bequeath large tracts of Rome’s territory in the Eastern Mediterranean to his children by Cleopatra. It was a classic piece of propaganda that labelled him a traitor. What is new is the use of social-media platforms and artificial intelligence to create an environment in which almost two-thirds of people – including New Zealanders – in the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer international survey did not know how to tell good journalism from rumour or falsehood.

Why will disinformation be front and centre? The answer is simple: in Europe this year there will be 13 parliamentary and 10 presidential elections, including elections to the European Parliament. Canada and Australia will hold federal elections and in Asia there will be national elections in India, Indonesia and the Philippines and Japan will elect half the upper house in the Diet.